


Corrupt

by Takehaya



Series: BlazBlue AUs [1]
Category: BlazBlue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Dragon!Ragna the Bloodedge, Dragons, Gen, High Fantasy, Holy Knight!Jin Kisaragi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 18:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10927938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takehaya/pseuds/Takehaya
Summary: The Crimson Dragon would never be sated.Every failure would drag man to its inevitable end.And jaws of the beast would devour the world once more.(A high fantasy AU for BlazBlue. Updates come sparingly.)





	1. Introduction (Part 1 of 3)

A long time ago, 'it' woke up.

And the day 'it' did, the world went to hell.


	2. Introduction (Part 2 of 3)

A fool was man, for playing God. A speck did not deserve to believe itself worthy of even such delusions of grandeur.

A fool was man, believing himself to be the greatest of all the earth's bounty. Wiping away from its mind just how pitiful it was, how weak. How blissful was their ignorance... Arrogance was the downfall of many.

There could be no more arrogance when tens of thousands were slaughtered in a night.

And there would be no more delusions when all man had built began to crumble before them.

 

...Could there?

...

They would always find a way.


	3. Introduction (Part 3 of 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A proper explanation. Proper enough. I'll revisit this when I'm not as tired, but I did want to get it out ASAP.

A long time ago, the **Black Beast** woke up.

There are no surviving records of the Old World before the creature's awakening. No man was prepared: and perhaps, no one ever could be, for a disaster of such magnitude.

Old, _generations_ old stories tell of **black wings grand enough to blot out the sun** , such was their colossal size. Others tell of **churning magma** flickering between every scale, like sickly red veins pulsating just behind broken and fragmented skin, ready to burst forth.

Everything that dragon touched turned to smoke. Heavy, choking smoke that **strangled and killed** whatever the beast itself hadn't already. Before long, it had garnered many a name. Angel of Death. Leviathan. The Apocalypse Incarnate.

The name 'Black Beast' only loosely described the monster that breathed destruction and bled fire. But a beast it was, ravaging without hesitation the world that once was.

It was only in humanity's most hopeless hour that the **Six Heroes** came to be. The dwindling remnants of mankind had gone into hiding as the godlike entities emerged from what couldn't be described as anything less than an act of God. Led by the Silver Knight, and guided by his companions, the Beast faltered and went dormant for exactly, and no more than, one year.

One year would never have been enough, had it not been for the direct help from the Six Heroes. In that one year, the surviving remnants of civilization banded together, and poured together their blood, sweat, and tears, in hopes of one last chance at survival. The Black Mage of the Six Heroes stepped forwards to offer the best of her knowledge. Old texts and grimoires that survived the beast's onslaught were dredged up.

Time was brief, but desperation fueled the greatest of minds. In what could not have been any faster, magic became widespread, and easier to wield after intense study, trial, and error. Simpler, easier, this form of simplified magic was called Ars Magus, and the strongest of the weapons birthed from this joining of man and the powers beyond were called Nox Nyctores.

These weapons were demonic in nature. Filled with unimaginable power, demanding sacrifice from their own wielders. Without that year, humanity would have fallen, and been devoured by the Black Beast.

Without it, the Black Beast would not have been forcibly pushed to dormancy once more, and humanity would not have been allowed to rebuild the destroyed world.

The beast's corpse burned for a hundred nights, smoke from the defeated dragon flooded the continent, and many a country was abandoned, the remnants of civilized society too fearful to breathe in the smoke that once rose from the creature's claws. The air became thick with toxins and mutating fog. Mankind fled the lowlands, taking refuge in the higher plains. Those who were stubborn and refused to abide were met with fates worse than death.

As a result, the taming of wyverns became common—pseudo-dragons spawned from the smoke, but still natural enough to retain some form of higher thinking. The beasts were looked down upon, but a necessity. It took many more years after the beast's demise for some communities to be able to commune with one another, even longer so for townships and kingdoms to be rebuilt.

It took many, many years, but eventually, there was a form of order among the survivors.

After many, many more years, the smoke fell further into the crevices of the earth, freeing once-dangerous territory for travel on horseback.

The world is licking its wounds and settling after the great calamity.

But at the very least, there is a feeling of normality and routine.

It has been 300 years since the destruction of the Black Beast.

300 years, and the threat of calamity has never been so great.


	4. 『forward unto calamity』

“Youngster, I reckon you might wanna sleep somewhere the ground from now on. Gets especially dangerous around here at night...”

Ragna felt the hackles on his neck stand on end, and a pair of red and green eyes flashed open to search for the owner of the deep voice that woke him from his sleep. Instinct drove his right arm to flare up in self defence.

A short cat on two legs stood just in front of his place on the ground, eyes red like wine, and the hooded cape around him a bright orange. Ragna rolled onto his side, enough to look at the cat with a narrow-eyed glare. At his frustration, the creature seemed mildly amused, offering a toothy grin.

“…Mornin’ to you too, kid.”

“Jubei… What do you want? What are you doing here?” Ragna used his free hand to rub his eyes clean, an attempt to wake himself up. With a twitch, the throbbing in his arm went down. 

“What, I can’t just visit ya? Take care of a kid for ten years, won’t even give ya the time of day when he’s older...”

“Gods—” The white-haired man snorted, and stretched as he pushed himself to sit up—dusting himself off as he did. “Good morning, old man. _Now_ tell me what you want. You don’t just show up outta nowhere for no reason…”

A small satchel was thrown into Ragna’s lap. From it, he immediately picked up the scent of slightly-stale bread and salted, dried beef. Hunger making itself well-known immediately, he tore into the bag and started off with the old bread, ripping off a piece to offer it to the cat until he responded with a shake of his head.

“Know ya don’t eat too well when you’re on the road, so ‘at’s all fer you. Take it as a bribe fer you ta listen t’me.”

The beastman waited for Ragna to finish off his mouthful before continuing.

“…Now I know what yer up to, and I’d like to give you a little bit of guidance.” Jubei gestured southward with a glance of his eyes. “Kagutsuchi’s ‘attaway. The way you’re walkin, you’ll lose a few days before you make it to Nozuchi.”

_“I know how to get there, I don’t really need to be looked after.”_

“Awfully disrespectful to the man who just kept you from starving to death.” The cat’s two tails flicked around behind him. “But I’ll let it pass. Listen, Ragna—Kagutsuchi should be your main priority. Barely a day or two’s walk away—“

“Seriously?”

“You don’t even have a map, do you?” Jubei’s tails twitched again, this time puffing out slightly. “…Forget it, you don’t have a clue what yer doin.”

Ragna wiped off his mouth with the back of a black gloved hand. “I know exactly what I’m doing!”

“Can’t tell the sun from a chunk’a metal on the floor…”

“You want me to go to Kagutsuchi so bad? Alright, I freakin’ will. Quit your complaining.”

Jubei’s slightly-annoyed look was replaced with a more relaxed expression once more, leaving the white-haired man with the sense that he’d been baited. However, a more forboding atmosphere came to replace the lighthearted jest.

“Glad you changed your decision. ‘Cause from what I’ve gathered, the Library’s decided to start up their smelting again, over there.”

“…Shit.”

The half-eaten roll of bread in Ragna’s hand was thrown back into the bag it came in, before that itself was hastily tied shut and slung over Ragna’s shoulder.

“Hey, kid—“

“I gotta get going.”

“Aren’t’cha at least gonna eat? You can’t fool yer old man, I can tell you ain’t been sleeping or eating right since I last saw ya.”

True to his words, beneath the white-haired man’s eyes were slightly-darkened bags, confirmation of his own sleep deprivation. His suddenly firm gaze refused to falter, and he turned on his heel before starting to walk

“That’s not really my concern. Like you said, I have to get to Kagutsuchi as soon as I can.”

“And you think you can take a castle’s worth of trained swordsmen an’ casters when you’re barely up on your feet…”

“I’ve been through worse. Not like they’re a big deal, anyway.

…Thanks for the food. I’ll get going now.”

“…Yer welcome.”

The cat didn’t need to wait any longer to realize that the man had suddenly turned serious and deadest on his mission. With nothing left to gain from staying any longer, Jubei lept back and returned to his own path, leaving Ragna to wander along the smoky lowlands on his own once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than I would've liked, but oh well. Had both hardware issues and life issues, but I'm back in a sense of normalcy and will try my best to deliver.  
> Also, Jubei's speech mannerisms are awkward to represent in writing.


End file.
